


Last Chance

by Ririan



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Bad Puns, Depression, Determination, Gen, I'm Bad At Tagging, Nightmares, No More Resets, PTSD Sans, Science Experiments, Why Did I Write This?, death (kind of), oh well
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2016-08-06
Packaged: 2018-05-27 13:53:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6287191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ririan/pseuds/Ririan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This story takes place post-reset after an attempted genocide run. However, Sans still remembers everything. He isn't sure how to confront Frisk, but he needs to know why they did it. Also, Frisk can no longer save. They can no longer reload. They can't reset. Once people calm down, they try to figure out why and how to fix things. This is their Last Chance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Reminiscence

**Author's Note:**

> Whoops my fingers slipped and I wrote a fanfiction. Hahaha I don't know what I'm doing. Oh well. Here's the first part of the story. Hope you enjoy it!

_Everything hurts._

That's the first thing Sans thought as consciousness slipped into his mind. He began to feel an overwhelming ache in his bones that he knew would stay for a long time to come. He pried open his eyes only to be met with what appeared to be a clearing in a forest. The stark whiteness of the snow contrasted heavily with the dark trees that lined a river’s edge. His surroundings appeared with hazy edges as he tried to blink away the cloudiness in his vision.

_My heavy breaths as I ran..._

He felt a distant well of emotions from something important that he couldn't quite remember. His mind felt as if a sheet had been draped over part of it, trying to conceal what lay beneath. He shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to clear his head. Sans was vaguely aware of the cold that bit into his bones, but wasn't registering any pain.

_...my heart thudding to a stop as I found them standing there..._

He groaned as he tried to stand up, brushing snow off of himself. He stumbled a bit, but felt sturdy enough once he was on his feet. His surroundings seemed familiar. There seemed to be some sort of path covered in snow. The sheet was slowly being pulled away. "This... This is where Papyrus waits for the kid," Sans muttered under his breath, turning to gaze around the area.

_Everything turning to white as he's cut down in front of me._

Sans drops to his knees and clutches his head as he releases a scream from his very core. The memories of a different time flood into his mind, invading his thoughts. His eye flickers blue as the scream dies off into sobs that wrack his frame. Tears slip from his eyes as he remembers a time that should never have happened.

_I had been watching the kid since they arrived. The scenes that trailed after them were gruesome, scenes I knew would haunt my nightmares. They were cutting down everything in their path. Not only that, but they actively searched for someone to kill. I knew I should stop them. But why try? The kid could just reset everything anyways. If anything, I would just make them more determined to continue. Nothing would change._

_Even so, I knew the kid wouldn't hesitate to end Papyrus's life as well. That was something I couldn't ignore, no matter how much I tried to tell myself that nothing mattered. I pleaded with Papyrus not to go. He said it was something he had to do. That he had to try. He seemed a bit sad telling me this. Maybe he knew that it wouldn't work._

_I couldn't stop him. Once he set his mind to something, there was nothing I could do to change his mind. So he set out to wait for the human to arrive. In my own stupidity, I refused to watch. I went to where the human had been before. Everything was deserted. There was no trace of life anywhere. The only thing that hinted at a previous existence was the dust scattered across the snow._

_It was in that moment that I realized how much of a fool I was. I could still try to stop this. If anything, I could take his place. I just couldn't allow him to be killed if I knew that it would happen. However, there was one problem. I hadn't bothered to check exactly where Papyrus would be waiting. I knew the general direction, so I started there. I appeared just outside of Snowdin and began running East. It didn't take long for me to find them._

_I found them just as the kid ran up to him for a hug. "Wha-" I began, but my confusion didn't last long. As soon as their arms wrapped around him, I heard a quiet giggle as they rammed their knife into the back of his neck. Papyrus was dumbfounded, but still tried to encourage them as he died from the blow they inflicted upon him._

_How.. Why... I stood in shock as the human stopped and stared at the dust that suddenly peppered the blank sheet of snow. They paused for a moment in silence. However, it didn't last long. They continued on their journey, soon disappearing from sight. It was only after they were gone that I even dared move._

_I slowly crept towards where the dust and remains of his outfit lay in a pile. I fell to my knees, not even registering what had happened. H-How..? I gingerly picked up his red scarf and examined the thin layer of gray now coating it._

_Papyrus..? Why... I.. I told you not to.. I should've tried harder.. I should've stopped you.. I should've…_

_And everything turned black._

Sans slowly opened his eyes and looked around as the memories faded. It suddenly dawned on him that this wasn't the same space where that had happened. It was the same area but... things were different. The path had no footprints. There was no dust. Sans was no longer clutching the scarf. That means… _Papyrus might still be alive._

Standing up, he decided to go back home. There was nothing left for him on that snowy path. Maybe he would find more answers at home. He trudged through the snow, not having the energy or will to teleport right now. The walk wasn't far anyways. To think, something as awful as that had happened so close to a place he thought of as safe. Maybe that just showed that safety wasn't as definite as he liked to pretend it was.

As he reached the edge of the town, he stopped short. There seemed to be... monsters here? Last time he was here it was completely devoid of life. All of the monsters had either fled or been executed mercilessly. Now the town seems to have been revived by an unseen force. That must mean…

_Oh no._

There was a reset. There was a reset and somehow Sans managed to not be affected by it. He was well aware of resets and what they could do. He had studied them extensively before all of this. Yet... He never managed to keep his memories from previous timelines. Sure he had kept snippets of memories, but not the entire experience. It's something entirely different to be in the same exact area as before.

Bearing this in mind, he continued towards his house. If there was any kindness in this merciless world, then Papyrus might not be... Sans swallowed, his mouth dry as he stopped in front of his house. He fumbled for his hoodie pocket to get the key. It took him multiple tries just to get the key in the lock with his shaking hands. He took a deep breath and opened the door.

The house appeared as it did on any normal day. A soft light filtered through a window in the living room. Nothing was disturbed except his pet rock had a new portion of sprinkles dashed on top of it. He slowly walked through the house, as if dreaming. The kitchen was empty, save for a grocery bag sitting on the counter. He continued past the silent television and up the stairs. He stopped himself from opening the door to Papyrus's room. Instead, he walked to his bedroom door, only to find a note taped to it.

_"Good morning, brother! I see you are being a lazybones as usual and not exiting your room! Fear not, the Great Papyrus will not wake you! I will allow you to rest as I continue on with my day, doing productive things! I will be at my post once you wake, if you care to join me! I feel as if today is the day! Nyeh heh heh!_

_Signed, The Great Papyrus"_

Sans let out a sigh of relief. At least his brother was safe. Deciding he had nothing he could do at the moment besides think, he thought it would be best to go join his brother at his post. As he left to go join his brother, he felt a fraction of his tension ease. He would need to sort out his thoughts later, but he didn't need to stand around waiting for a moment of clarity.


	2. Having a Snow-Ball of a Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the pun in the title. (No I'm not, never mind. There's plenty more to come in this chapter anyways.) This has a bit of brotherly fluff between Sans and Papyrus. Also emotions. Yeah. Emotions are a thing. It's not too heavy on that though. I hope you enjoy it!

Sans found Papyrus out by his post “recalibrating his puzzles,” which basically amounted to him slightly altering the layout of it or making small tweaks that hardly changed anything. At least he seemed to enjoy himself while he worked on them. This particular one was one of his favorites. It had X’s laid out that had to be walked on only once with barriers between the letters. Considering how much pride he took in his puzzles, you’d think that he would use an actual barrier and not just piles of snow. Then again, who was Sans to judge anyone on laziness.

Papyrus’s back was turned to Sans as he formed snow into a pile next to an X. Sans stood in silence just watching Papyrus happily do his job. How could anyone want to hurt him? He wouldn’t pose a real threat to a determined human, and he offered nothing but kindness. But Sans knew that kindness didn’t always satisfy humans. If it did, it didn’t last long.

Shaking himself out of the dark state of mind he had put himself in, he started walking towards Papyrus. “Hey bro. Recalibrating your puzzles again?” Sans already knew the answer, but felt compelled to ask. Papyrus jumped a bit at the sudden voice, but grinned when he turned and saw Sans.

“Brother! I did not expect you so soon! Or at all! You were taking an awfully long nap. I wasn’t sure you would even get up at all!” Papyrus said in a slightly nagging tone.

Sans chuckled at Papyrus’s use of the word nap. He always walks into this one. “I think that’s called sleeping, bro.” Papyrus groaned at the correction Sans always made.

“Well whatever it was, it took a lot longer than usual, even for you.” If it was anyone else, they may not have caught the undertone of worry in Papyrus’s voice. However, Sans was closer to his brother than anyone else, even if he tried to keep a lot of his past life to himself.

“ _ Icy  _ that you might be a bit concerned, but it’s  _ snow _ problem. I’m just being lazy like usual.” Sans’ grin stretched even wider as he saw the near disgust on Papyrus’s face. Sans had always suspected that Papyrus actually enjoyed his jokes, but never got him to admit it.

“Those were awful,” Papyrus complained. However, his demeanor changed quickly.“But I, the Great Papyrus, will forgive you! You have actually left the house without me telling you in person, which is an improvement! I say we celebrate!”  

“Oh? Celebrate how? Also, you seem to be getting a bit  _ stern _ um about my puns. Are they not  _ humerus _ enough?” Sans didn’t think his grin could be wider. It almost hurt, but he got so much enjoyment from seeing his brother’s reaction. Papyrus seemed conflicted on how to react. He smiled, but his eyes showed his dislike. It was great.

Papyrus sighed, deciding to ignore the puns Sans had just made. “I think we should work on recalibrating my puzzles together! Or we could make a new one! You are always good at puzzles! Er- at least when you try,” Papyrus stumbled on his words. He didn’t want to offend Sans, but he wasn’t going to lie.

“Awh c’mon. Give me some credit. I’m not a complete  _ bonehead _ . I ca-”

_ Smack! _

A snowball hit Sans straight in the face, getting snow in his eye sockets and between his nasal bones. Sans immediately recoiled from the impact, shaking his head to get the snow out. Papyrus snickered, but waited for Sans to recover before launching another. Sans ducked under the snowball while still clearing snow from his eye socket, only to trip over a snow pile that was part of the puzzle Papyrus was working on.

Sans let out a short cry as he landed sprawled across the snow. He pulled himself into a sitting position behind the snow pile. At least he could use this to his advantage. He gathered enough snow for a snowball, and peeked over the edge of the mound of snow. It looks like Papyrus had a similar idea. It worked better for Sans though, because Papyrus was still poking out from behind his pile no matter how hard he tried to hide.

Sans chucked the snowball as hard as he could, aiming for Papyrus’s head, which was uncovered. It missed the center of his head, instead hitting the side of it. His head jerked to the side, but then looked up to glare at Sans. “What? Don’t look so mad!” Sans said as he ducked again to narrowly avoid another snowball. “I’m playing by the rules! It’s not my fault you  _ don’t have the guts  _ for this!”

At that, Sans noticed the sound of Papyrus packing snowballs together had stopped. Confused, he peeked over the edge of the snow pile. Papyrus wasn’t behind the snow pile anymore. “Paps?” he called, voice slightly wavering. Sans raised himself up more, frantically turning his head side to side to locate Papyrus. He wasn’t anywhere that Sans could see him. The trees were too far away for him to have gone there.  _ At least not on his own. _

Sans’ heart dropped as panic started to set in his mind. He stood up, running to where Papyrus had been before. Nothing. He immediately feared the worst.  _ Oh god, he can’t be gone again. I just lost him, I can’t do this again. He can’t-  _ Then, he heard Papyrus let out a yell that was his version of a war cry somewhere behind him.

He quickly turned around to be met with a hail of snowballs aimed directly at him. He threw his arms up in poor protection as he was pelted with snowball after snowball. Some of them stung, but the relief that Sans felt made the snowballs feel like nothing. After the assault ended, he lowered his arms and opened his eye sockets that he had reflexively squeezed shut. Now that his blind panic was over, he noticed footprints in the snow that led to where Papyrus was now standing.

Papyrus stood in front of him, radiating with his triumph. “Nyeh heh heh! The Great Papyrus is victorious! But, do not worry dear brother! I will still- uh,” Papyrus trailed off as he saw the expression on Sans’ face. “Uhm… are you alright, Sans?”

Sans realized that he wasn’t hiding his emotions at all, but he hardly cared. Still, he masked his expression with the grin he always plastered on his face. It had become a habit. “Oh- yeah. I just haven’t seen you so proud to win a snowball fight before. It was certainly a sight to behold.” At least lying was second nature to him. Papyrus could never tell if he was lying to him. Not that he ever did it with bad intentions. It was always for Papyrus’s sake.

“Well… alright.” Sans heard the falter in his voice. “How about we go get some hot chocolate at Grillby’s before going back to work?” Going back to work was the last thing Sans was concerned about, but Papyrus didn’t need to know that. He could at least try to pretend being somewhat interested.

“Yeah. That sounds good.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

After finding an empty booth in the corner of the bar and ordering two hot chocolates, Sans started to relax. At least at Grillby’s it was a comfortable sort of familiar. Sans had spent a lot of time here recently, albeit not much of it was for any good reason. He was definitely a regular at this point. In fact, he was recognized and greeted by nearly everyone in the bar as soon as they entered.

“So that was fun, huh?” Papyrus said, giving Sans a patient smile.

“Heh. Yeah. I did have a skele- _ ton _ of fun,” Sans said, hoping to get a reaction out of Papyrus.

Papyrus just continued with a slight look of empathy. “Are you okay though? You seemed to be a bit… emotional back there. I know you don’t want to worry me, but you can tell me what’s wrong. You’ve been a bit down lately.” Sans realized that Papyrus might be aware of more than he had previously thought.

Sans couldn’t tell him. It wouldn’t make sense. Even if he believed him, it wouldn’t change anything anyways. “Oh, I’m fine.  _ Tibia  _ honest, I think I’m just coming down with something.” He could feel his smile going stiff.

Papyrus clearly didn’t believe him. “Sans, I haven’t talked about this before because I know you don’t want to. But I’m getting really worried about you. Your laziness is just getting worse, and it’s not just for the sake of being lazy.” The pinpricks of light in Sans eyes dimmed. "That was the first time we had done something fun together in weeks."

“I…” Just then, Grillby came over with their glasses of hot chocolate. Sans quickly changed to his usual demeanor. “Heh, thanks Grillbz.” Grillby waved him off and went back to the bar. Papyrus looked slightly disappointed at the timing, but didn’t try to bring it up again. Sans was thankful that he didn’t, but now he was wondering just how much Papyrus actually noticed.

Papyrus drank his hot chocolate in silence. Sans just held onto his glass, staring into it thoughtfully. The chatter of other customers was lively, but it did nothing to rouse Sans from his thoughts. The silence at their booth suddenly diminished as Papyrus looked up, remembering something. “Oh! Sans! We need to get back to our posts! The human could show up at any time. And I told you I had a good feeling about today!”

Sans looked up from his glass to stare at Papyrus. He felt his forced grin turn into something close to a genuine smile. “Right. Let’s go, then,” Sans said as they stood up to leave. “Oh, and Grillbz! Put it on my tab!”


	3. The Human Arrives

Sans and Papyrus had left the pub and gone to their separate posts. Currently, Sans was pacing outside in the woods in his assigned area near the Ruins’ exit. He had checked the door nearly half an hour ago to see if the woman he usually talked to was there. She wasn’t. _The kid has to be here._ The woman was waiting at the door every single time Sans was at his post. She seemed to be pretty lonely in the Ruins.

Considering all the time he had spent talking to her before today, he never caught her name. Even though Sans remembered the last timeline, he never learned it then either. He never got a chance to. Not before that kid found her. Also, he wasn’t sure she really wanted him to know. That was fine with Sans though. Everyone had things they wanted to keep to themselves. _He_ definitely did. Plus, he never even saw the woman, so knowing her name wasn’t a big concern.

Sans walked over to his sentry station and sat down, resting his head on his crossed arms. He needed to think this over. He wasn’t sure how far Frisk had actually gone in their maniacal killing spree. He knew they never got as far as the judgement hall, but after seeing what happened to Papyrus… _Did I just black out or was that the reset?_ He tried to recall anything past the darkness.

Air hissed through his teeth as unexpected pain shot through his skull. He groaned, holding his head until the pain faded into a dull ache. _What the hell was that?_ Suddenly, the distant sound of the stone door grinding open was heard. Sans’ eyes snapped open. He teleported, appearing behind a wide tree near the path’s edge. The human, Frisk, stepped out, blinking at the intensity of the white snow which contrastly heavily with the darkness behind them.

As the kid began walking the path toward the bridge, Sans remembered that this is when he would mess with the kid, make them think a scary monster is out to get them. _One might actually be this time._ The kid seemed a bit hesitant, almost confounded that they were here. They suddenly stopped, turning to stare at a branch that they had already passed. Sans knew what they expected to happen. They lightly shook their head and continued on, appearing a little unsettled.

It wasn’t until Frisk reached the bridge that Sans decided to do something. The kid stopped again, looking around in confusion. They sighed and began to walk onto the bridge when Sans teleported behind them soundlessly. His eye sockets turned pitch black. “ H u m a n .  D o n ‘ t   y o u   k n o w   h o w   t o   g r e e t    _a n   o l d   p a l_ ? ” Frisk suddenly turned, their face showing utter happiness. Then they saw the expression on his face.

“O-Old pal?” Frisk stammered, eyes widening. Sans was slightly taken aback by them speaking because they rarely did before, but he didn’t show it. His barely held back temper was much stronger than his bewilderment.

“Do you not remember something? Like the fact that you _murdered everyone?_ ” he spat. The surprise on Frisk’s face was apparent. “Oh? Did you expect me to not remember? Heh, well I didn’t either.”

“S-Sans, I… I didn’t want to do it…” Frisk said meekly. They began to understand what was happening.

“Well then why did you? Did you get bored of befriending everyone, giving us our happy ending, then ripping us back to this awful place?!” It was getting harder to keep himself in check, his voice’s volume growing louder with every word. “Was being surrounded by friends such an awful thing to you?! If you didn’t want to do it, WHY DID YOU?!”

“No, Sans! I wasn’t trying to! I was being forced. I couldn’t control it...” Frisk pleaded, tears beginning to form in the corner of their eyes.

“I don’t want your excuses, _dirty brother killer._ ” With that said, he left, leaving the shocked kid behind. It was only after his exit that he realized something. They didn’t have any dust on them.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Sans began heading to his brother’s post. It wasn’t an option to tell him about the human. He wouldn’t realize what a threat they could be, and he would outright refuse to leave if the human was there. How could Sans keep his brother from finding them? Frisk had a lot of ground to cover before Snowdin, but Papyrus was almost always in that area this time of the day. He never neglected his duty, and wouldn’t unless absolutely necessary.

If Sans wanted to keep his brother safe, he would need to stay by his side during this. Papyrus could run through his puzzles and enjoy his time while Sans participated solely for protecting his brother. Frisk didn’t look like they had hurt anyone this run, but that doesn’t mean they won’t. He was now close enough to see Papyrus, who appeared to be searching around his station for something. He was rifling through the stuff he had behind his station. Sans could hear him muttering something, but couldn’t make out the words. “Hey bro, you looking for something?”

Papyrus, turned around, startled. “Oh! It is only you, brother! And, yes. I actually am looking for something! I seem to have misplaced a glove of mine. I don’t wear them anymore, but I would still rather not lose it,” he sighed. “It matches this one,” he said, pulling out a tough leather glove from his pocket.

“Well it’s better late than _leather_ to look for it.” Papyrus groaned and attempted to roll his eyes. “Hey, since that one lost it’s pair, would that make it a _mourning glove_?” That one was a bit of a stretch, but that made it even better to see Papyrus’s reaction. Sans’ brow bones lifted as he relished in his brother’s annoyance.

“I take it you aren’t going to help me look for it?” he grumbled.

“Well have you checked the house? It might be there,” Sans said casually, rocking back on his heels. He was trying to get his brother to leave without showing his intentions.

“If it’s at the house I can check later. I won’t abandon my post for a missing glove,” he stated, as if it was obvious and resting a hand on his hip.

_Well, it was worth a shot._ The soft sound of crunching snow was heard behind them. Sans knew what it was before he even turned. Frisk. They were clutching the matching glove tightly in their hand. Cuts and scrapes were scattered on various places on their body. The band-aid on their knee was hanging off, revealing an old scar that was split open again. This was worse than Sans ever remembered seeing the kid. Papyrus let out a gasp at the sight of them. 

“Sans! Is… Is that a human?!” he whispered loudly, directing it to the shorter skeleton.

“Yes,” he whispered loudly back.

“Oh my god! But- wait. Why are they injured?” he said quieter, concern overtaking his excitement.

“I don’t know, bro. Looks like they found your glove though,” Sans said, changing the subject to direct Papyrus’s attention elsewhere.

“Oh! Human! Where did you find that glove?” Papyrus said, louder this time. Frisk appeared slightly startled at the louder voice, but hid it enough that Papyrus didn’t notice.

“I-I uh…” Frisk began, eyes darting to Sans who was silently watching the exchange. “It was in a box back there. I figured I might as well take it with me.”

“Oh of course! I forgot I used to store supplies there,” Papyrus said, momentarily brightening as he remembered. “But that glove is mine! If I could have it back, I would appreciate it!”

Frisk nodded and tentatively stepped forward, beginning to close the gap between themself and Papyrus. Sans tensed, eyeing Frisk. They seemed to have noticed because they suddenly stopped. Papyrus noticed Frisk staring and followed their eyes to Sans, puzzled. A few moments of silent staring passed before Sans started walking towards Frisk. They tried to repress a flinch and stood their ground.

Sans stopped in front of Frisk, holding out his hand. Frisk stared at his outstretched fingers, dumbfounded. “Well?” Sans said impatiently, tightening the set of his grin. They glanced up at his face to briefly meet his cold eyes.

That broke them out of their stupor. “Oh, right,” Frisk muttered, gently setting the glove in his hand as they lowered their gaze. He immediately wrapped his phalanges around it tightly and shoved it in his jacket pocket.

“Welp, that was easier than expected, right Papyrus?” Sans suddenly said, voice sounding tight.

“I… suppose,” Papyrus said, confused and a little unsettled by the conversation that had just taken place. He was clearly suspecting that something was wrong.

“Right. Well, we best be going. Cya later, pal,” he concluded, his voice hardening on the word ‘pal’. He abruptly turned around, walking away from the human. He waved his hand as he passed Papyrus, motioning for him to follow.

“Uh, Sans? Shouldn’t we help the human first? They are still hurt…” Papyrus uttered, trailing off as he finished his statement.

Sans footsteps stopped behind Papyrus. His voice dropped, chilling Frisk to the bone. “No. They’ll be fine. Nothing can stop their _determination_.” Sans looked over his shoulder to look Frisk in the eye, his sockets empty. “Isn’t that right, kid?”

“I…” Frisk began. They seemed to realize that maybe it would be best to just agree with Sans and avoid possibly upsetting his brother. “Uh… yeah. Y-you’re right. I’ll be okay.” At that, Frisk looked up to smile softly at Papyrus. The anger inside Sans faltered for a moment, but his resolve kept it strong.

“If you’re sure…” Papyrus said. Then he remembered himself and the situation. As far as he knew, a human had just fallen down for the first time, and it was just what he needed to get into the Royal Guard. “But wait! The human must first get past my puzzles! Nyeh heh heh, you had better prepare yourself!”

Frisk smiled as Papyrus marched away, Sans hesitating before following. Sans heard Frisk sigh softly as they left them behind. As the brothers disappeared from Frisk’s sight, Papyrus’s attitude lost its buoyancy. Sans glanced at his brother but didn’t say anything. His shoulders drooped more than usual and his spine was slightly bent, losing its normally perfect posture. Sans wondered what his brother was thinking. Did the human’s injuries bother him that much? Or did he know that Sans was keeping something from him? Usually he’s ecstatic to guide Frisk through puzzle after puzzle, laughing in glee at their success. Now he’s practically wilting.

They walked somberly to the first puzzle that Frisk would face. Papyrus looked deep in thought. Sans remembered the glove that he still had. He shoved his hand into the pocket where it was and pulled it out. “Hey, bro.” Papyrus looked up from where he was staring at the ground to turn to his brother. “Here’s your glove.”

Papyrus grabbed it from Sans hand and resumed with the silent walking. Sans was beginning to be a bit worried. His brother usually tried to appear happy, even if something was bothering him. Now he isn’t. The fragile silence was then broken by Papyrus speaking. “Sans.”

The serious tone that Papyrus was using didn’t ease Sans’ worry at all. He also wasn’t even looking at Sans. He was just staring straight ahead. “Yeah, bro?”

“Do you know that human?” he said after a pause, finally turning to look at his brother.

Sans shouldn’t have been surprised. He knew that Papyrus suspected something. He waited maybe a bit too long to reply. “Nah bro. They just got here, didn’t they? No way I could have met them before.” He tried to sound as nonchalant as possible. He didn’t like lying to his brother, but there was no way to explain _why_ he knew Frisk.

Papyrus didn’t respond to that. He just went back to staring straight ahead. They were almost to the puzzle. There were footprints in the snow from previous walks to his post. It took awhile for tracks to be covered considering that it didn’t exactly snow down here, the snow kind of just appeared. The quiet atmosphere weighed on Sans. He could feel a gap forming between him and his brother the more he lied to him. He hated that feeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that was fun, huh? Sans should probably stop what he's doing a just chill a bit. (That wasn't an intended pun, but oh look, it happened.) I finished the chapter and edited while listening to some Undertale tunes. And, OH! WOULD YOU LOOK AT THE TIME. It TOTALLY hasn't been over a month since I updated ahhahahah. I should have more time to write in a few weeks, but for now it's just going to be whenever. I hope you liked the most recent update! Thanks for reading!


	4. Explanation

“. . .  BY ARRANGING THE SNOW  TO LOOK MORE LIKE MY FACE!” Papyrus exclaimed to Frisk. He had recently altered one of his favorite puzzles to make it even cooler. How did he decide to make it cooler? By adding his face to it. Sans suppressed a snicker while wondering if Mettaton had any influence on this decision. Papyrus’s voice dropped as he continued. “Unfortunately, the snow froze to the ground. Now the solution is different. And, as usual, my lazy brother is nowhere around.”

Sans could have been offended were it not true. It did sting a bit, but that was only because of the lingering feelings from their conversation earlier. He may have his reasons for acting lazy, but he wasn’t going to make them known any time soon. It was just easier for him to keep up the appearance of pure laziness rather than try to explain.  _ Not like it would change anything if I did. Everything would just reset. . . _ Sans felt his pupils dim as the dark thoughts swirled in his head.  _ No. Not right now.  _ He forced himself to clear his mind and focus on what was happening now.

Papyrus was in the process of explaining how the changes affected the puzzle, but was giving the kid a chance at it first. Or, at least that’s what he said. Sans could tell that his brother was trying to stall for time as he tried to figure out the new puzzle solution. The kid wasn’t exactly buying it, but they didn’t object either. So far, Frisk had been docile. They went through each puzzle Papyrus had set up with ease. They were playing along, smiling at the right times, and finishing the puzzle quickly, but not to the point of disappointing Papyrus.

Sans wasn’t sure if he was imagining it or not, but Frisk seemed to be a bit happier than normal. Despite their injuries, they smiled wider, their expressions seemed less forced, and they actually spoke up occasionally. They acted like. . . they were finally free, in a way.  _ Where did that come from? But. . . maybe. . . Nah, I’m just imagining it. After all, when was the last time anything new happened? I shouldn’t let myself get my hopes up. _

Whether Frisk was actually acting different in that regard or not, they were still slightly uneasy around Sans. Right now though they were fine, as Sans waited on the side of the path east of the puzzle. He wasn’t too far from the one-foot-tall spikes that Papyrus had set up to “stop any human advances.” They weren’t exactly doing their job as even Sans could step over them, and that was saying something.

After Papyrus was done speaking, Frisk stared at the puzzle for a moment, studying it. They had a confused expression on their face as if to say, 'How does that look like his face?' but they didn’t comment on it. After the initial hesitation, they stepped up to one open end of the puzzle and walked through it, easily solving it. Once all of the X’s were turned into O’s, they walked over to a large button that was placed in the snow and stepped on it without pause. The spikes next to Sans lowered back into the ground where they were stored.

Papyrus showed his delight, completely ignoring the fact that the human had barely taken any time to solve his puzzle. Sans knew he was maybe not giving the kid enough credit, but that seemed too fast. Too fast to not have done it before. It had already become clear to Sans that Frisk remembered all the timelines so it wasn't very surprising. However, last reset, Frisk didn’t even solve it. They were. . . preoccupied with other things. Exactly how many times had they solved this puzzle? Sans knew it was a lot, even if he couldn’t remember them.

Frisk beamed at Papyrus, and followed him once he ran east to the next puzzle. Sans teleported to the room where the next puzzle would be before his brother saw him. There was a wadded up piece of paper shoved partially underneath the Mettaton-esque machine. The machine didn’t even work. The puzzle was directly controlled by Alphys, who didn’t even get to start it in Frisk’s last run. Sans faintly recalled that if Frisk was friendly, Alphys wouldn’t make the puzzle difficult. He couldn’t exactly remember what she did, but he knew that it infuriated his brother. That's always hard to forget.

Papyrus came stomping into the room, his expression falling a bit as soon as he saw his brother. Papyrus seemed to notice this and quickly fixed it, bringing it back to cheerful. He was clearly faking his jovial expression to make things easier on his brother.  _ Must run in the family. _ Sans decided to pretend their previous conversation didn’t happen. After all, he was good at pretending. He’s had a lot of practice. “Hey bro.” Sans waved to his brother.

“Hello, brother! Are you here to finally join my japes against the human?” Papyrus questioned, quieter than normal.

“How’d you guess? Oh, wait, nevermind. I guess it’s because you can  _ see right through me _ ,” Sans said, punctuating the joke with a wink.

Papyrus’s eye sockets narrowed, but he was still smiling a bit. “No.”

“Awh c’mon! You should really. . .” Sans felt another presence at the entrance to the room, causing him to pause. “You should stop  _ patella ing  fibulas _ . I know you love my jokes.”

Papyrus didn’t respond. Instead he was facing Frisk who now stood at the opening to the room, right before the puzzle. “Hey! It’s the human!” Papyrus announced. “You’re going to love this puzzle! It was made by the great Dr. Alphys!” He then went on the explain how each tile functioned and what its purpose was. He had to pause once or twice to correct himself. Everytime he paused Frisk would let out a little giggle. Papyrus would get flustered, taking even longer to correct himself. Sans just smiled wider, but without humor.

Then, Papyrus was done explaining. He told Frisk to get ready, and the puzzle began. Frisk didn’t seem too excited or worried as the tiles flashed random colors, the tiles changing faster the longer it went on. The lights shone brightly on everyone watching, bathing them in a colorful glow. Then the tiles froze. Everyone in the room seemed surprised, even Papyrus. The puzzle. . . It. . .  _ What? This can’t be right. . . Is that. . . _ Sans looked up to see the shocked expression on Frisk’s face.  _ So this hasn’t happened before. . . _ The puzzle was new. It was something that hadn’t been done before, in any of the resets.  _ It’s something new. _

And it was impassable.

The tiles were solid lines of yellow and red. Frisk couldn’t solve the puzzle. They couldn’t walk on the red, and they would get repeatedly shocked if they tried to pass on the yellow.  _ What is Alphys doing? _ Sans was forced out of his thoughts when Papyrus spoke up. He had faint sweat marks on his skull and he wasn’t looking at Frisk. “W-Well. It seems this puzzle is impassable. That. . . was not my intention! But I am a skeleton with class! This is unfair! Away the puzzle goes!” Papyrus waved his hands for effect.

Nothing happened.

Papyrus cleared his non-existent throat. “I said, AWAY IT GOES!” Frisk stared, dumbfounded, between the puzzle and Papyrus. Papyrus was looking more nervous by the second. “Ah! It seems the puzzle has, er. . . malfunctioned! Yes! I will need to see that it is fixed! And human! My brother will keep you company while you wait! Goodbye!” With that, Papyrus sped off towards town. Sans didn’t have time to react before he was gone. Either way, he probably wouldn’t have been able to convince his brother otherwise.

Sans turned to face Frisk. They looked extremely uncomfortable. Whether it was from the difference in the puzzle, Sans’ presence, or both, he couldn’t guess. Frisk shivered slightly, and this time he didn’t think it was from nerves. Sans wasn’t sure exactly how long Papyrus would take, but he was probably going to Undyne or Alphys. That trip would take him awhile. Sans had time to do what he needed to do.

Sans teleported so he was now right next to Frisk. They jumped, letting out a yelp and backing up. “Hey kid. How ya holding up?” He already knew the answer. Frisk was scraped up with some dried blood on them and their clothes were extremely messy. They still had all the wounds from the beginning of the forest. For some reason, Sans felt like this was the first time the kid got this banged up. They also weren’t stopping at what Sans had always assumed were Frisk’s ‘save points.’ Did not using the save points have to do with why they were still injured?

Frisk looked slightly terrified, but Sans couldn’t care less. “I-I’ll be alright!” Frisk squeaked. They seemed scared to say anything that could upset Sans. With good reason. Sans felt a distant pang of sympathy, but he ignored it.

Sans took a deep breath before what he said next. He had no reason to give Frisk a chance. He honestly didn’t really _ want  _ to. But his logic side forced him to say it. “So. I’ll cut to the chase. You said it wasn’t you. I have no reason to believe you, but I’m a nice guy. Nice guys listen to their  _ pals. _ So, pal. If it wasn’t your fault,  _ whose was it? _ ”

Frisk’s eyes widened even more and their mouth opened before they even spoke. “Well, I uh, I honestly don’t even know!”

Sans had little patience right now. His sockets darkened. “Explain.  _ Now. _ ”

Frisk became even more anxious, if that was even possible. “O-Okay! Well, I’m not too sure who or what it was, but up until now, I wasn’t the one controlling anything I did. I was the one who did everything, but I didn’t have the option to decide what to do. I was being controlled like a puppet or something!”

_ Wait—what?  _ Sans what not expecting that at all. The surprise he felt melted away some of his anger. “Excuse you? What?” That was all he could think to respond with. He didn't exactly trust Frisk yet, but that wasn't what he thought they would say.

“Yeah! This is the first time I have control of myself! I’m not sure why, but I can feel that whatever it was is gone now.” Frisk was getting less scared. They just seemed relieved to be able to finally explain.

Sans wasn’t sure what to think. This sounded totally fake. But, it would also make some sense. “Kid, you better not be lying to me.”

“I’m not, I swear!”

“Then can you explain more?”

“Uh, sure! Well, it first happened when I fell into the underground. I felt something almost constricting my entire body. I couldn’t speak out or move my body. At first I thought I was dead, or at least almost. Then suddenly, I was walking. I had made no conscious decision to do that. I didn’t even know where I was, and it was so dark I could hardly see. But, my body made a beeline on the path into the next area. In the next room was where. . .” Frisk trailed off, a distant look in their eyes.

Sans was finding all of this hard to believe, but Frisk didn’t seem like they were making this up. They seemed too emotionally invested, plus the fact that it seemed too specific to be fake. Frisk wasn’t saying anything now, just staring blankly at the snowy floor. “Hey, uh kiddo? You want to continue?”

“Oh! Uh. . . yeah. Well I entered the next room, and that’s where. . .” They seemed reluctant to say it. They had a pained look in their eyes.

“You’re going to need to tell me everything.”

“R-right, sorry. . . That room is where I first met. . . him. Flowey.” Sans' grin tightened as he thought about that weed. Flowey had always tried to toy with Sans. Sans didn't remember anything specific, but he knew that he had given Flowey his fair share of deaths. Somehow he always came back.

Frisk continued, not noticing Sans’ reaction. “He gave me some short speech about how fighting worked, except he was pretending it was something fun and nice. He was telling me about LOVE, but he was saying it was a good thing. He offered to share LOVE with me, and then something was flying towards my Soul. Then my health dropped to 1.” Frisk shuddered and their face slowly began to look terrified again. “H-He surrounded me in this attack, taunting me before he tried to kill me. I thought I was going to die. I already felt weak, I had no control over myself, and now some freaky flower was about to end my life then and there. . .”

Sans’ anger was totally gone now. He placed a boney hand on their shoulder, rousing them from their flashback. They looked at Sans for a moment, panic still in their eyes. Then it melted away as they noticed that Sans was actually concerned. “You okay to keep going?”

Frisk lowered their head. “Yeah, it’s okay. I’m fine. Anyways, then Toriel showed up and saved me from him. She began to lead me through the rest of the Ruins when I spotted a yellow glowing. . . thing floating in the air. I was forced to walk over to it and basically shove my hand in it. As soon as I did, my senses faded to black. Then suddenly I was back, like nothing happened. The weird thing though, was that my aches and pains were gone. I felt reinvigorated.”

_So those were the 'save points.'_ But why hasn’t Frisk been using them now? And why don’t they seem to understand them? Sans also realized something else. “Wait, did you say Toriel?”

Frisk looked at him in shock. “Yeah? What about her? Do you not remember who she is? Even though you remember all the resets?

“I, ah, don’t remember the past resets. I remember short memories, but nothing huge. The only timeline of yours that I completely remember is your last one,” Sans said slightly awkwardly.

Frisk was silent for a moment before responding. “Oh. Well, Toriel is the ex-Queen.” Sans nodded. He knew that much. “She went to the Ruins after she left Asgore.”  _ So that’s who that is.  _ Sans had had his speculations, but never asked her to confirm them.  _ Huh. So the ex-Queen likes awful puns? _

Sans was kind of amused at that thought, but wanted Frisk to finish their explanation. “Right. So, back on track?”

They nodded. “So there were these points throughout the Ruins, and even the rest of the Underground. And I found out something special about them. You know, besides the whole magical healing thing. After Toriel left to start baking the pie she was going to surprise me with, I wandered around the Ruins. I got jumped by a pair of Froggits. I don’t think they wanted to hurt me that much, but I was weaker than they probably thought. They. . . ended up killing me. But that wasn’t the end of it. I woke up again. Right at that yellow, glowing point with Toriel just up ahead. It was like it never happened.

“I was dragged on ahead, forced to kill if whatever controlling me couldn’t figure out how to get past the monsters. Occasionally it would make me speak, but whatever came out hardly sounded like me. Eventually I made it through the rest of the Ruins and stopped at Toriel’s house. Honestly, I would have been content with staying with her. But I was pushed to continue. The last words I ever spoke to Toriel were to ask how I could leave her. She didn’t want me to. She knew that I would die if I left. But I had no choice in the matter.

“She wanted me to prove that I was strong enough. . . I lost count of how many times she accidentally killed me. I was forced to land blow after blow upon her, even as I was struggling to stay conscious. Eventually. . . I killed her. I was horrified, but I couldn’t do anything. Suddenly, I was back at the last glowing point. I didn’t die, but I was back. Whatever was controlling me took me back.

“Again we fought. Time after time, I was burnt by her magic. Finally though, what was controlling me figured out something. Toriel’s one weakness was mercy. I just had to survive long enough to let her know that I wouldn’t fight her. I ended up convincing her to let me go without anyone’s death. Even if I didn't controll it, I much preferred this way.”

Sans was silently staring at Frisk. He wasn't sure how to react to anything he just heard. His normal approach of puns or knock knock jokes didn't seem appropriate. He wasn't sure what it was that had been controlling Frisk, but it was apparent that it wasn't Frisk doing any of it. He suddenly felt a little sick at everything the kid had to do. God, he was sickened and horrified just seeing them do it. But to be forced to do it yourself. . .

“So uh, that was my first experience with it. The world was reset against my own will so many times after that. Sometimes it was like the first time, sparing some and killing others. Sometimes everyone was spared and we made it to the surface. It stayed like that for awhile. But then. . .”

Frisk’s face turned dark. They almost looked like they were going to cry. After everything they just shared, Sans was surprised they hadn’t already. He felt a building sense of dread. He had already guessed what they were about to say, but he didn't want to believe it until they said it. Sans didn’t want to push them, but he needed to know for certain. “What happened, buddy?”

Frisk didn’t respond for a long time. When they did, they looked Sans directly in the eye, tears forming at their eye’s corners, “Then the last reset happened.”

Oh.

Sans didn’t know what to say, so he didn’t say anything. Frisk decided that this was their opportunity to speak again. Their voice wobbled slightly, but they weren’t breaking down. “I really didn’t want to do it, Sans. I was so scared, so horrified by everything I was forced to do. . . and I couldn’t do anything about it. I had to kill so many innocents. I was even forced to kill the woman that I began to think of as a mother.”

“I’m so sorry. . .” Sans whispered. He had nothing else he could say. Frisk ignored it.

“Whatever was controlling me wouldn't just kill what got in its way, either. It hunted down everyone. Everyone turned to dust because of my own hands. The entire time, numbers counting down ran through my head. One word was constantly repeated.  **_Determination_ ** . I wanted to scream, but not even my lip trembled. I was barely holding on before, but by the time I reached Papyrus. . .”

Sans suddenly felt very cold. Frisk’s voice was getting shakier and more choked sounding. “I tried to stop myself. I tried, harder and harder to stop. It didn’t work. But then, as I was forced to. . . hit him. . . I felt something breaking. My body got up and walked away, leaving his dust behind. But whatever was breaking, I knew that was my only chance. I pushed. And pushed. And pushed. Then it broke. And everything went black.”

Sans felt as if he was breaking apart inside. He was silently reliving the moment he saw his brother turn to dust.  _ It wasn’t Frisk. It wasn’t Frisk. _ He had to keep reminding himself so he didn’t actually split apart. He heard Frisk trying to calm their breathing, shuddering breaths going in and out of them. Then, with a steadier voice, Frisk spoke up again to finish their tale. “Suddenly I was awake. I was lying in that bed of golden flowers, right where I always began after a reset. It all looked the same, except. . . I was finally free. Whatever was controlling me was finally gone. I could make my own decisions, live the way I wanted to. That was the beginning of this reset. But, now all of the glowing points are gone, so uh, I’m not in the best shape, hah.”

Sans was lost in his own thoughts now. If the save points are gone, what does that mean about resetting? Also, what happened to whatever was controlling Frisk? Is it permanently gone now or just temporarily? What even  _ was _ controlling Frisk? Suddenly a faint buzz of something electrical shutting off was heard. They both turned to look at the tile puzzle, which was now gray squares. Alphys must have turned it off. Did Papyrus really make it to Hotland already?

Then Sans remembered something. He slowly turned to stare directly into the camera poised in the corner of the ceiling. Alphys's camera. Did she just hear all of that? Frisk followed his gaze to the camera. They let out a quiet gasp. They knew that Alphys heard it too. Sans guessed that she believed Frisk’s story as well, considering she turned off the puzzle. But why did she even make the puzzle like that in the first place? How would she have known anything was different? Did she. . . did she remember too?

Frisk shivered again. Sans turned to face them and his smile softened. He really felt bad for them. They didn't do anything that he had accused them of and they had to suffer because of it. He felt bad for how he acted, but there was really no way for him to know. Though, he could have decided to listen sooner. He shrugged out of his jacket and held it out to them. They seemed confused for a moment before searching Sans’ facial expression. “Well, are ya gonna take it, kid?”

Frisk seemed surprised at that, but smiled at him and took it. They put it on and zipped it up, sighing contentedly. The jacket was big on them, and the fluff in the hood came up to their chin. Frisk said their thanks, and a comfortable silence ensued. They both were thinking over the past few minutes and how drastically everything had just changed. Sans really had no idea what it was that was controlling Frisk. He needed to find out.

There also was one minor problem. A lot of monsters still seem to want to kill Frisk for their Soul. Plus, if Undyne found out about Frisk. . . “Hey kiddo?”

Frisk looked up from where they were staring at the floor in thought. “Hm?”

“Have you, ya know, died since the last reset?”

Frisk’s expression turned to a grimace. “No, I haven’t. I don’t really want to find out what will happen since the points are gone.”

Sans grunted in response, turning back to his thoughts. As far as they knew, if Frisk died now, they could stay dead. The other alternative is that the world might reset entirely. Neither are really good options. Now Sans  _ really _ needed to follow the promise Toriel had him make. He has to make sure Frisk isn’t in any serious danger. He could deal with most of the monsters, and Papyrus shouldn’t be a problem unless he tells Undyne. And right now he was on his way to. . . tell Undyne or Alphys.  _Oh no._

Sans’ eye sockets widened and he turned to frisk abruptly. “Kid. We need to go.”

Frisk opened their mouth to say something, but Sans grabbed their shoulder and used a shortcut before they could say anything. They were met by the stale scent and low lighting of Sans’ room. This is the only place he could think of that was safe from anyone else. “Sorry buddy, but you need to stay here for awhile. Other monsters aren’t going to be very friendly right now, and you’re safe here.”

While Frisk was standing there in minor panic, Sans teleported to the kitchen and back in a few seconds. “Here,” he said and tossed a piece of monster candy at Frisk. “You need this right now. In the meantime, I need to go.” Frisk nodded but looked kind of scared. Sans felt a little bad, but there was nothing else he could do. Well, nothing besides make a bad joke. “Heh, try not to get too  _ bonely _ without me, kid.” 

With that, Sans left for Waterfall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So things are picking up! Frisk now has an ally and Sans doesn't want to kill them anymore. Yay! Sorry it took so long to post this, but it's up now. Not so many puns, but I had to add that one towards the end.  
> See you guys in the next chapter!


	5. Trust Issues

Sans was met by the heavy moisture in the air and the soft gurgling of nearby water. He didn't go to Undyne’s house very often, but he still knew the layout of Waterfall well enough to get there easily. In fact, he knew the layout of all of the underground fairly well. When you spend your entire life in a cave, it’s hard not to know it down to the last crevice. However, he hadn't been exploring in years, whether you count the accumulated time of the resets or not. Most of Sans’ fonder memories were of spending time with Papyrus while he searched for something new in places outside of the capital.

He walked up to the giant teeth that made up the entrance to Undyne’s house. Frankly, her door was just disturbing. At least anyone that saw it knew that the house belonged to the reputable leader of the royal guard. Undyne herself wasn't exactly a subtle person.

His hand knocked hollowly on the solid material of the door. The time he took could be lessened by taking a shortcut inside, but if they were in her house they wouldn’t be too happy about the sudden intrusion. Plus, Undyne had no idea about Sans’ supposed shortcuts. Even so, Sans knew he had to find his brother or Undyne before they found each other and Papyrus said something that would put Frisk is serious danger.

He didn't get a response in a few seconds, nor did any loud and obtrusive sound come from within the house. Sans assumed that neither of the two were in her home. Anxiousness was beginning to form, prodding at darker thoughts in Sans’ mind. Sans was trying to stay calm, and he was mostly succeeding, but the fact that Undyne wasn't home made it much more difficult for him. That meant she was probably patrolling Waterfall. It would take far too long for Sans to find her, even with his easy method of transport. He just hoped his brother didn't find her already.

Deciding that it was the best course of action, Sans appeared in the middle of Alphys’s lab. A quick glance revealed nothing out of the ordinary. Her fridge was still oddly positioned near the center of the room, and the dog food that Sans had given her was still sitting next to it. He didn't have any idea what some of the other monsters-turned-amalgamates would want to eat, but considering one consisted of nearly a quarter of Snowdin’s previous dog population, it wasn't too hard to guess that specific one’s diet.

As for the scientist herself, Alphys was sitting in a rolling chair in front of her messily organized desk. She hadn't noticed him yet as she was facing away from him. She busily scrawled in a notebook with a Mew Mew Kissy Cutie emblazoned pen.  _ Ugh. That anime is awful. _ The giant screen to her left was focused on the brothers’ house, and her computer was opened to video footage of what appeared to be the conversation between Sans and Frisk.  _ So she did turn off the puzzle after hearing what Frisk had to say. I guess I wasn't the only one previously suspicious of them. _

Sans would've cleared his throat if he had one, but he just settled for talking. “Hey Alphys.” She squawked and tried to turn in her chair to face him, which resulted in her nearly falling out of her chair, the notebook landing on the floor with a flop. Sans ignored her reaction and continued. “Have you seen Papyrus or Undyne anywhere?”

She stared at him in shock for a moment, her mouth open, before her expression turned to one of annoyance. “S-Sans! You c-can't just sneak up on m-me like that.”

Sans stepped on the bright pink pen that had landed near his foot, adding pressure until it skidded over to where the notebook still sat. Her eyes followed its movement. “Sorry buddy. Now can you tell me if you know where Papyrus or Undyne is?”

She turned and blinked at him, her annoyance momentarily forgotten. “What? No, I h-haven't. W-Why do you n-need to know where th-they are?”

Sans knew that he shouldn’t take long, but since he was asking for help, he decided to indulge her curiosity. He stayed silent for a moment, thinking over all she had seen. “You were watching me talk to the kid, right?”

“Y-Yes?” she answered, unsure. Even though she didn't want to admit it, Sans kind of intimidated her. Especially since he left the lab.

“Well you should know that the kid is innocent then.” She stayed quiet. “And since you were watching, you also know that Papyrus left to ‘make sure that the puzzle was fixed.’”

She squinted her eyes in confusion and adjusted her glasses. “B-but Papyrus hasn't come t-to see me, and he knows that I c-control it…”

If this was where Papyrus actually meant to go, he would’ve probably been here by now. He would also know where Undyne was right now because he felt the need to memorize the schedules of every guard and sentry, unlike Sans.

“Look up where he is. And Undyne,” Sans said simply.

“Sans, I-I still d-don’t understand why-”

“If Papyrus tells Undyne that a human is here, the kid isn't going to survive until tomorrow,” Sans said evenly, cutting off Alphys. He just needed to know where they were. He didn’t want to waste any more time.

She sat quietly, studying the tiled floor. She seemed to realize that her notebook and pen were still on the floor, but didn't move to pick them up. Her mouth opened as if to say something, but she quickly shut it.

“Alphys. We need to hurry.” Sans wouldn't plead, but he was beginning to feel desperate. He refused to show it, forcing himself to smile as always.

Slowly, she formed her response. “W-Well… Would it r-really be s-so bad if they d-didn't?”

Sans tensed. “What?”

She looked to the floor, avoiding Sans’ intent gaze. “Would it r-really be so bad if they didn’t survive? If Undyne k… t-took the human’s Soul?”

“Alphys. What are you talking about,” Sans said, his voice becoming dangerously low.

“W-Well you know I have c-cameras set up everywhere in the Underground in case I-I see anything s-suspicious...” She paused to wait for him to respond. He didn't. She swallowed and continued. “Er… I-I saw the c-conversation you had with the human n-near the Ruins. That m-means what happened b-before… What I h-had thought was maybe a d-dream… It was r-real…”

Sans wasn't sure what to think. Does she mean that she remembers the last reset? Is that the only one she remembers? _ But she also heard Frisk’s explanation. Why is she willing to let them die? _

“Alphys… Are you trying to tell me you remember the reset?” Sans knew that he should be trying to rush her, but this was information that he  _ needed _ to know.  _ After all this time of being alone in this... _

Her eyebrows scrunched together. “R-Reset?”

Oh. Right. “Uh, the last day repeated so that's what I called it.” Sans gave a brief explanation, not wanting to reveal too much information. Alphys had heard him yelling at Frisk, so she might know that there had been more than one reset, and that Sans had knowledge of the previous ones. If she did, she wasn’t mentioning it.

“O-Okay. Then… Yeah. I d-do.” She went silent for a moment before speaking again in a hushed tone. “I s-saw them h-hurt so many p-people… M-Maybe it  _ would _ be okay if U-Undyne took their S-Soul.”

Sans couldn’t believe that the usually pacifist scientist was suggesting this. “You don't think they would do it again, do you? You heard them explain. It wasn’t even them that did it.”

She sighed and slouched even more than she already was. “I d-don’t know. They haven’t d-done anything yet, but. . . that doesn’t m-mean they won’t.”

He still didn’t understand why Alphys would suddenly go to such extremes. “But Alphys, why do you want Undyne to kill them?”

Her eyes widened. “I-I didn't say I wanted her to k-kill them!”

“Take their Soul, kill them, it's the  _ same thing _ .”

She looked slightly alarmed, but continued. “I j-just mean that… You s-saw what they can d-do. They c-could do it again.”

“They explained that already. Isn't that why you turned off the puzzle?”

“P-Partially… But th-they could've been lying. Or if they weren’t, m-maybe the thing c-controlling them could come b-back… I just r-really don't think we should t-trust them. P-Plus if we get the Soul, we can f-finally get out of here.”

Sans wasn't too sure of that. The world could reset if Frisk died.  _ Plus we probably wouldn't even be able to leave, it would just become another sick joke… _ Sans stopped himself. He needed to find his brother and stop chatting, even though this was hardly light conversation.

Sans knew that their was a much more pressing matter to be dealt with, even if getting information was useful. “Okay, Alphys. Can we discuss this later? I need you to look for Undyne or Papyrus. Can you just check Waterfall?”

She grumbled but turned to her computer anyways. Sans shuffled over and stood behind her, earning a clear view of her work space. Or, as clear a view as one could get of that mess. He glanced at her notebook which was lying open on the desk. It contained logs of every conversation Frisk had had, plus every interaction with any monster, not missing a single detail.

He looked over to Alphys and saw her bring up video feeds for Waterfall, the footage creating a grid on the screen. She pulled up one of the video feeds and zoomed in towards the grass. A bench was partially hidden behind the grass, and two monsters were sitting on it. Just the two Sans was looking for. The white of his brother’s bones stood out among the dark blues of his surroundings, easily giving away their location. Sans knew where the bench was, but he didn't expect his brother to meet Undyne there. His brother almost always met with her at her house or in an interconnecting cave between Snowdin and Waterfall.

Alphys was now turned around, staring at Sans. “Sans, I-I still don't think-”

“Thanks Alph. But I gotta run. See ya later.” Sans stepped back to use a shortcut, but Alphys reached out a clawed hand and grasped his arm before he could leave. Sans tensed at the contact, trying not to outwardly show his reaction.  _ Just keep smiling. _

“Sans.” Alphys’s voice was suddenly perfectly clear and unwavering. “You shouldn't try to change the human’s fate.”

He stared at her, waiting for her to let go of him, or even break eye contact, but she refused to break down. Sans hadn't seen Alphys that serious since… Since… He couldn't seem to remember. There was a dull ache in his skull that grew stronger the deeper he searched his memories. He vaguely recalled something about the true lab, but it was just out of his reach.

“Heh, I didn't take you for one to believe in fate,” Sans joked, but his voice was devoid of humor. “Alphys I know you don't trust them, but we need them alive right now. And hey, when have I ever been wrong?” Sans winked.

She narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to say something, but quickly shut it, looking slightly shocked at herself. Instead, she said, “E-Everyone m-messes up. Even you.”

Sans had a distant memory that he couldn't make out, but he had a feeling that he didn't want to. Suddenly the lab was making him feel uneasy. “Just trust me, Alph.” He glanced down at her hand still grasping his arm.

She seemed to notice his stare, and gently she removed her hand. Then softly she spoke, as if to herself, “I always have. But is it a mistake to?”

Sans continued to grin despite what she said. “I'll talk to you later, Alph. Please, just wait to do anything.” With that said, he left.

 

~~~

 

“Hah! That was a good one, Paps!” Undyne laughed. Sans was just on the other side of the grass with his hood pulled up to hide himself better. He could hear Undyne and Papyrus talking. As far as he could tell, Papyrus hadn't told her about Frisk yet. “Okay, so what did you want to tell me anyways?”

_ Crap.  _ “Oh! Right! Well, so you know how I called you earlier saying that I had news?”  _ Crapcrapcrap. _

“Yeah?” Sans could hear the sudden interest in her voice.

Having no other option, Sans pulled down his hood and walked through the grass, butting into their conversation. “Oh there you are, bro. Hey Undyne.”

Undyne turned to look at Sans, looking a bit peeved at the sudden intrusion. Papyrus however, just tried his best to scowl. “Sans! It's very rude to interrupt a conversation!”

“Heh, sorry. My bad. But if you're going to be having a private conversation, just let  _ minnow _ beforehand,” Sans said, pointedly looking at Undyne. Both of them groaned.

“Really Sans? That was also rude!” Papyrus scolded.

“Yeah dude, how many times have I told you to quit it with the fish puns?” Undyne said, appearing to have to briefly forgotten her discussion with Papyrus.

“Sorry guys. I'll try to stop being such a  _ bass _ .”

“ _ Sans!”  _ they both yelled in unison.

“Hey now, I came to deliver some info,” he said, taking his hands out of his pockets to raise them in defense. Undyne raised an eyebrow at him, glancing at Papyrus before returning her one-eyed gaze to Sans.

“And what is it?” she asked.

“Alphys wanted to see you. Something about wanting you to try out a new human sword replica she made?” Sans knew that she couldn't refuse that.

Her one eye lit up and she grinned widely, flashing her pointed teeth. Sans couldn't tell if her reaction was because of the mention of a giant sword, or if it was because it was Alphys. Probably both. “I'll be right over! Sorry Paps, I can't miss this!” she said, standing up.

“It is quite alright Undyne! Have a fun time!” Papyrus stood up and waved at her cheerfully as she backed away.

“See ya,” Sans said with a quick nod in her direction. She turned and left, most likely heading for the River Person. Sans pulled out his rarely-used phone to text Alphys a quick update. ‘ _ hey alph. undynes comin over. just go along with it. dont let her know abt the human. _ ’

Sans looked up from his phone as he hit send, slipping it into his pocket. He turned his attention to his brother as he spoke. “Sans! Why were you looking for me?”

“What d’ya mean, bro?”

Papyrus stomped his foot in annoyance, something he’d done since he was just a baby bones. “Don't do this with me again, Sans!” he huffed. “You said ‘there you are, bro’ when you rudely interrupted!”

“Oh, right. Well, I just wanted to see my baby bro. Is there something wrong with that?” Sans grit his teeth as he smiled. Lying to his brother always did this to him, and it was getting harder lately. Especially since Papyrus could apparently see through most of them.

Papyrus stopped looking annoyed and switched to a look that was akin to disappointment. “Sans,” he said quieter than before.

Sans studied his brother, keeping his usual grin on his face. Papyrus usually radiated happiness and excitement. But not right now. Right now he was looking at Sans almost sadly. Sans waited before responding. “Papyrus. Bro. I need you to not tell Undyne about the human.” Sans silently hoped that his brother wouldn't ask questions, but he knew that his wish wouldn't be granted.

Papyrus’s face contorted into a look of confusion. That apparently wasn't what he was expecting. “What? Why wouldn't I tell her? That's my job!”

Sans’ composure broke a little. He ran a hand over his skull. “I know bro, I know. But can you please just trust me on this?”

Papyrus just stared at his brother, seemingly in thought. He looked slightly pained. Sans didn't like seeing his brother like his.  _ It's better than how you saw him in the last timeline _ , a voice in the back of his skull whispered to him. Distracted by the sudden dark thought, Sans was caught off guard by what his brother said next. “No,” Papyrus whispered.

If Sans had blood, it would have turned to ice. “What?” he whispered in disbelief. Had he heard Papyrus right?

“No,” he said, louder this time.

“Papyrus?” Sans said softly, his smile faltering. Sans’ eyes searched Papyrus’s, but his brother refused to meet his eye.

“I can't trust you, Sans. You haven't told me what's going on, you can't even trust me with anything about yourself. I know you've been having a hard time after you left your job, but you never even told me what your job had been.” Now he was staring Sans in the eyes. Sans felt locked in place. “I've been trying to get you to just  _ talk  _ to me, but you refuse. So, no, I can't trust you. I want to, I really,  _ really _ do, but I can't anymore.”

Sans couldn't tell if he was imagining it or not, but he swore he felt his Soul crack. It definitely felt like it did. He could hardly believe what his brother was saying. He had never been pushed this far. “Bro… I…” He couldn't finish it. He didn't know what to say.

Papyrus looked pained again. “Brother, I need you to tell me why. I… I won't be able to trust you until you just explain.” No trust until an explanation was given. That sounded awfully familiar to Sans. The irony only made it sting more.

Sans was on the brink of crying, something he hadn't done since long before the resets began. “Paps… I… I just don't know what you want me to say. Everything I've done… I just want to protect you,” Sans admitted, his voice hoarse.

Papyrus sighed softly. “Sans. I'm not a child anymore. I don't need protecting as much as you think I do. Please, just tell me something. Anything!” he pleaded.

Sans knew he should say something, explain why Frisk needed to be protected. Explain what Undyne would do if she found them. But he just couldn't. He had spent too long protecting his brother from exactly that. “Papyrus, I can't…”

“Sans please,” he said, stepping closer to his brother. He usually had a slight smile, but it was strained at the moment. “Anything. You don't have to tell me everything, just  _ something _ .”

“Papyrus it isn't that easy,” Sans said, his voice breaking. He couldn't deal with this, not right now.

“At least tell me why I can't tell Undyne,” he compromised. He looked hurt at Sans’ constant refusal, but he wouldn't break down.

Sans let out a shuddering breath. “Papyrus, you really won't like the answer.”

“I've spent long enough not knowing, not having anyone tell me what's going on because they think I can't handle it. Please brother, just give me this.” His voice was more strained than usual as he searched Sans’ face.

Sans didn't want to tell him. He really, really didn't want to. But he knew that it would only get worse if he didn't. Plus, he needed to do this for Frisk’s sake, if not his own. “Papyrus… Undyne—She's having you capture humans for the king. Do you know why the king needs the human?”

Papyrus was patient. He wouldn't rush Sans, even though he desperately wanted answers. However, he wasn't sure where Sans was going with this. “I… Actually I'm not certain. But I know it's important. That’s why I want to become a guard!”

Sans cringed at his brother’s innocence. Even though he claims he didn't need protecting, he still was sheltered by everyone, especially Sans. “Uh, well. Papyrus, you know the barrier, right? And how we need Soul power to break it?”

Now Papyrus was getting slightly confused. Still, he listened intently. He was finally getting his brother to tell him something. “Yes… What does that have to do with the human?”

Sans sighed. Undyne’s going to kill him for this. “Paps… The king needs the human’s soul. Undyne would take the human's Soul if she knew about them.” He worded it as nicely as he could.

Papyrus still looked confused. Then, the realization dawned on him. He looked shocked and a little terrified, his eye sockets widening and his previously drooping smile disappearing completely. “You don't mean she…” Sans only nodded grimly, not wanting to see his brother’s expression anymore.

Papyrus was silently staring at the ground. Sans gave him time to process everything. Finally, he spoke again. “I'm not sure I want to be a Royal Guard anymore…” he whispered.

Sans grimaced. “Yeah… That’s why I didn't want you to know. But it's also why we need to keep the human safe.”

Papyrus nodded slowly. “I understand now, brother. But still, I wish you wouldn't keep things from me. This could have been avoided if someone had told me.”

Sans couldn't exactly disagree. Still, he didn't want Papyrus being exposed to some of the harsher things in the world. “I'm still trying to protect you,” Sans admitted.

Papyrus looked like he wanted to disagree but didn't. Instead he said, “I know, Sans. But I don't need it anymore.”

A heavy silence hung in the air. The siblings didn’t move or meet the other’s eyes. Papyrus probably still needed time to deal with his life goal being shattered, and Sans was just glad that the fight was mostly over. Sans knew that everything that Papyrus had said was true, but he still found it difficult to tell him everything. Many things were better off not being known.

Finally, Sans broke the silence by saying, “So please, don't tell Undyne about the human.”

“I won't.”

The silence returned. Sans wasn't sure if he'd be able to handle it again if they fought. Even though their fight didn't involve much anger, it still wore Sans down.  _ Down to the bone. Heh… _ Even that didn't help lighten his mood.

Papyrus shifted his eyes to look at Sans. Suddenly Papyrus stepped closer to Sans and placed his gloved hands on his brother’s shoulders. Sans looked up at his brother with wide eye sockets. “Sans.”

“Yeah, Papyrus?” Sans wasn't sure what to expect and it made him worried.

Then, Papyrus smiled and some of the worry disappeared. He bent down and wrapped Sans in his embrace. Softly, he said, “I know that I can trust you now.”

Sans was almost shocked at the contact, but slowly relaxed in his brother’s arms. His smile finally returned, genuine this time. Just for this moment, he felt like everything would be okay. But before he closed his eyes, he swore he saw a flash of yellow in the shadows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't keep angst going for very long apparently. I wish I could but oh well. Also, I had this chapter written out for awhile now, but I wasn't really happy with any of the dialogue. I guess I'll just deal with it. It's been ages since I posted anything anyways. So take it! Take all of the trust issues that mostly get solved because I can't have people be sad!  
> Thanks for reading, everybody! It truly does mean a lot!


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